Hey guys! I have a Arduino Uno R3 and I've just ran in to a problem with uploading sketches to it. The problem is that when I click the Tools > Serial Port (on Mac), there are no options were I could choose the address of my Arduino Uno. Before that I haven't had this problem and Whenever I plugged in my Arduino to the computer, the serial address always appeared in the in the Tools > Serial Port menu.

Please see the image that I attached to the post.

However I could suggest what happened to it but please don't just say that it doesn't work because of that particular purpose. Instead please give me options on how to fix the problem as much as possible.

1. There is a possibility that I've exposed the 5v and GND pins for a long time since I used them as a power source while I was soldering a PCB board

Hey guys! I have a Arduino Uno R3 and I've just ran in to a problem with uploading sketches to it. The problem is that when I click the Tools > Serial Port (on Mac), there are no options were I could choose the address of my Arduino Uno. Before that I haven't had this problem and Whenever I plugged in my Arduino to the computer, the serial address always appeared in the in the Tools > Serial Port menu.

Please see the image that I attached to the post.

However I could suggest what happened to it but please don't just say that it doesn't work because of that particular purpose. Instead please give me options on how to fix the problem as much as possible.

1. There is a possibility that I've exposed the 5v and GND pins for a long time since I used them as a power source while I was soldering a PCB board

Could be. The fact is the Mac does not see the USB connection being made whey you plug the board into the PC, correct? If so you either have some kind of USB driver problem in the Mac or the board is dead and it's USB serial converter chip is not functioning.

2. Is it possible the the boot loader was somehow re-programmed?

Wouldn't matter if it needed to or not. The function of seeing the board being plugged in and assigning it a comm port number is a function of the USB serial converter chip on the board not the AVR chip that has the bootloader and any user sketch running on it.Lefty[/list]

Could be. The fact is the Mac does not see the USB connection being made whey you plug the board into the PC, correct? If so you either have some kind of USB driver problem in the Mac or the board is dead and it's USB serial converter chip is not functioning.

Yep correct!

Well, I guess then this is the case. But do you know how to fix the drivers on the mac? I hope that it's the driver problem and not a burnt chip problem on the Arduino itself. =(

Hey! What if i'm going to buy a new Arduino Uno. Will I be able to program my broken Arduino Uno using the ICSP port? Do I have to buy some sort of adapter or could I program the broken Arduino without it?

1. There is a possibility that I've exposed the 5v and GND pins for a long time since I used them as a power source while I was soldering a PCB board

This sounds highly suspicious, even though I don't completely understand what is being said.

Well while I was soldering a PCB board I think that I somehow linked + and - together but I haven't realized that. In fact, you could take a look at a project I've done. http://youtu.be/1IwfZIiVXiAIt's a PCB with a Attiny85 on it and I use the Arduino as a power source. Note how messy the soldering part is at the back of the PCB board. On the video it worked perfectly but as I began to develop the board further, I somehow messed up with it and probably burnt my Arduino.

Yes, assuming the only problem is a corrupted bootloader or ATmega16u2 (the usb to serial chip). I'd start with the USB to serial chip, since your computer isn't talking to that one anymore.

Yeah, the ATmega16u2, I think that that the exact problem. I've heard about the USB to serial chip converter but I costs the same amount as buying a new Arduino. I've also heard that you could somehow use the MISO, MOSI and SCK port to program an Arduino using another Arduino. Is this possible?